July 2017 Calendar

The Diné Grandmothers will be visiting LA for a Summer Tour from July 20-August 3. They will be doing workshops on wool dyeing, carding & weaving at the Haramokngna Indigenous Cultural Center, Angeles Crest Hwy & Mt Wilson Red Box Rd, Azusa, 91101, (626) 449-8975, https://www.facebook.com/Haramokngna/, for both children & adults on 4-6 of those days. They would also like to do 2-3 rug shows. For more information, contact Tanya Selig <wemoonwitch@gmail.com>.

Paul Simon: Words & Music, through September 3, 2017, Skirball Museum & Cultural Center, Making its only West Coast stop at the Skirball, Paul Simon: Words & Music—a traveling exhibition organized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum—illustrates how the legendary artist’s music has reflected social and cultural ideals. Based on exclusive interviews with the artist, the show will walk visitors through Paul Simon’s life and music and illuminate his creative process. Exclusively for the LA presentation, Paul Simon: Words & Music will include additional artifacts from Simon’s private archive and a newly created music lab developed by the Skirball in cooperation with Roland Corporation. 2701 N. Sepulveda Bl., LA. http://www.skirball.org/exhibitions/paul-simon-words-music

Health Care as a Human Right L.A. activist conference call, 3-4p, initiated by Maureen Cruise of HCA-LA and supported by Change Links, open to all who support universal health care for CA and the US as a human right. Urgent given TrumpCare and the stalling of SB 562 (single payer) in CA. Participants will identify themselves and their group(s), let others know of events planned in the coming month or two, and suggest additional participants. Dial-in Number: (515) 604-9702; Access Code: 290785. RSVP: changelinks2@gmail.com (not necessary to RSVP to join call).

LA Peace/Anti-War Movement conference call, 4-5p, initiated by Change Links, open to all who oppose US intervention, war-making and invasions, conscription or militarization of the border, the schools, and policing. Participants will identify themselves and their group(s), let others know of events planned in the coming month or two, and suggest additional participants. Dial-in Number: (515) 604-9702; Access Code: 290785. RSVP: changelinks2@gmail.com (not necessary to RSVP to join call).

Ocean Park Film Series: North By Northwest (1959), 6p. Film historian Elaina Archer screens and discusses this Alfred Hitchcock film, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, about a New York advertising executive who is mistaken for a government agent and pursued across the country by a group of foreign spies. (Film runtime: 136 min.) Santa Monica Library Ocean Park Branch, 310-458-8683. http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventcalendar.asp

July 4 – Tue

The Farce of July (Survivor Day), 3-10p, Center for the Arts, 2225 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles, California 90041 (Eagle Rock). XRF Presents The 20th Annual The Farce of July Music/Vendors/Food/Workshops! We have adopted an Australian Aboriginal tradition by including the phrase ‘Survivor Day’ meaning despite attempted obliteration by colonists, we still remain! As exemplified by Standing Rock resistance to the Dakota access pipeline. Proceeds will benefit AIM (American Indian Movement) of Southern CA.

“Unmanned: America’s Drone Wars”, Whittier 1st Thurs Movie Night. This film investigates the impact that U.S. drone strikes have across the globe, revealing the realities of drone warfare-the violation of international law, the loss of life, the far-reaching implications for the communities that live under drones, and blowback the United States faces. Director Robert Greenwald traveled to Pakistan in the fall of 2012 and interviewed more than 35 victims, witnesses, psychiatrists, and Pakistani leaders. With exclusive footage of burial sites, the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, Jirgas, and never-before-seen compelling interviews with experts, this documentary makes an urgent case that drone strikes create more instability than peace. 7-9p, St. Matthias Episcopal Church, 7056 Washington Av, Whittier 90602. Park on Washington (additional parking behind church). N/E corner of Wardman St. & Washington Ave. Washington Ave (not Blvd) runs north and south two short blocks east of Greenleaf. Walk through the second gate n. of Wardman. Whittier Area Peace & Justice Coalition @ St. Matthias. Info 562-587-6270 or 562-233-8579 whittierpeace.org

I Am Not Your Negro, Free Movie Nights at the Skid Row Museum, Discussion facilitated by civil rights attorney Nana Gyamfi. 7p, 250 S. Broadway, LA 90012. Writer James Baldwin tells the story of race in modern America with his unfinished novel, Remember This House. Film by Raoul Peck.

ACTION! presents Mother’s Day And Laps: Films by R.J. Lozada, 8p, free. Echo Park Film Center, 1200 N. Alvarado St. LA 90026. Mother’s Day explores the impact of mass incarceration on a generation of youth through annual Mother’s Day charity bus rides that takes children from across California to visit their mothers in prison. Laps is a documentary on the San Quentin 1000 Mile Running Club, a group of inmates that run daily for themselves, and their annual marathon. This screening is part of ACTION! Cinema as Sanctuary, a free summer series presenting political documentary films and workshops. ACTION! is made possible by support from The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Director/Producer R.J. Lozada is an award-winning filmmaker and radio producer based in the Bay Area. Lozada currently produces content for Making Contact, a weekly radio magazine show that focuses on social justice, and is in post-production for Passing Grounds–a multimedia project exploring America’s legacy of state violence through sites of death at the hands of law enforcement. Filmmaker in attendance! (213) 484-8846 or info@echoparkfilmcenter.org

Topanga Peace Alliance 1st Friday Film Night: “13th”. 2017 Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature, “13th” is a film about how the Thirteenth Amendment led to the mass incarceration of African Americans in the US. The film maps the link between slavery and today’s prison-industrial complex through the measures undertaken by political authorities to disempower African Americans over the last three centuries. This includes the rhetorical war started by Richard Nixon and continued by Ronald Reagan and escalated into a literal war. 13th also unmasks the Southern Strategy as a political calculation that decimated black neighborhoods but won the southern white vote as 13th explodes the “mythology of black criminality.” After the film we will have a discussion with members of Black Lives Matter including Dr. Brandie Cross. 7:30p Veggie (no alcohol) potluck at 7:15p. Topanga Library, 122 N. Topanga Canyon Blvd, Topanga 90290. http://www.topangapeacealliance.org

July 8 – Sat

ADDED ITEMS ON HEALTH CARE:

Labor United for Universal Health Care, L.A. County Federation of Labor, 10a-12n, 2130 James M. Wood Boulevard, LA 90006. Parking is available in the lot; enter off Lake Street. We’ll be discussing our Summer Garden Party and SB 562, the Healthy California Act, among other things. In case you haven’t yet seen this, here’s a link to Dr. Paul Song’s excellent piece, “Single Payer In California? Can We Afford It? Can We Afford Not To?” that appeared on HuffPost today. Looking forward to seeing you there! Questions? Email sarah@laborforhealthcare.org

H.O.P.E. Conference Call, 6p. Dr. Ed Weisbart: How to speak to Conservatives about National Improved Medicare for All. Calls are open to everyone, but you must register to receive a number. Register for the call: http://healthoverprofit.org On the calls, we will provide political updates, educate, discuss strategy and plan actions to change the political culture in the United States so that HR676 is the only politically viable solution.

SCREENING: Citizen Jane: Battle For The City, free, 7:30p. Hammer Museum, Co-presented by the American Institute of Architects, LA. This film celebrates the work of urbanist Jane Jacobs, who famously said, “Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” In three suspenseful acts, Citizen Jane highlights the war between Robert Moses, the mid-20th-century “master builder” of the New York metropolitan area, and activist Jacobs over the fate of New York City, showing how two opposing visions of city planning continue to ripple across the world stage. (2016, dir. Matt Tyrnauer, 92 min.) 10899 Wilshire Bl, LA. https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2017/07/citizen-jane-battle-for-the-city/

Health care for all monthly meeting. 7:30-9:30p. Free, 3916 S. Sepulveda Blvd, Culver City 90230. Health Care for All-LA Brainstorm Session: Share, Discuss, Strategize SB 562 Healthy California Act Needs Us to act now. Eliminate premiums, copays, deductibles, control outrageous Pharma prices and reduce skyrocketing Hospital charges. SB 562 saves the state $74 billion dollars. Individuals, families and businesses save money by implementing a system reducing waste, unnecessary administration, inefficient delivery of services and gouging by the medical industrial complex. We will ONLY achieve single payer universal health care if every single person reading this spends a few minutes on the phone calling your CA assembly person and advocate for a YES VOTE. Do not take NO for an answer. If opposed, ask for a reason. Call until they say YES. Put HEALTH and CARE back into our system. OUR LIVES DEPEND UPON IT. Free. All Welcome. Light Refreshments. 310 459-9763 mcruised@aol.com.

Frieda Afary, Alliance of Syrian and Iranian Socialists: How Did We Go from the Arab Spring & the Occupy Movement to the Destruction of the Syrian Revolution and the Global Rise of Racist Authoritarianism?

Zach Medeiros, Socialist Party U.S.A.: Solidarity with the Oppressed, Not the Oppressors: Why We Must Support Syrian Revolutionaries

Kevin B. Anderson, UCSB Sociology professor & member of International Marxist-Humanist Organization: Rightwing Populism, Neofascism, & Imperialism in the Trump Era: Where Do We Go from Here?

This coalition aims to develop a thoughtful, multidimensional, and proactive opposition to the warmongering authoritarianism that has become evident around the globe, as exemplified by Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin in Russia, and Xi Jinping in China. We target the connections among capitalist class oppression, imperialism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, environmental destruction, nativism, Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism. http://www.cprsj.wordpress.com or 310-409-3932

AWARE-LA Eastside Saturday Dialogue, 12n-3p, free. Everybody Gym in Glassell Park, 1845 N San Fernando Rd, LA 90065 (See Jul 1 for details on dialogue). RSVP to claremfox@gmail.com. 818-325-5872 (text is welcome). The venue is wheelchair accessible. We welcome people of all cultural backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender identities, spiritual beliefs, family structures, ages, educational and class statuses, and mental and physical health and abilities. We request this space to be fragrance free to support people with sensitivities to chemical products. You are welcome to bring your children to the meeting.

Update on Ashker v. Brown lawsuit against solitary confinement in CA, a community center at a park in Fullerton. Meeting with Jules Lobel; update on Ashker v Brown & Carol Strickman challenges for parole preparation for SHU releases ….meeting will be held and we will also have games for children and raffle prizes! ….if interested in attending please call/text (714)290-9077 or email Dolores Canales at dol1canales@gmail.com

LA Anti-repression Movement conference call, 4-5p, initiated by Change Links, open to all working against police abuse and murder, mass incarceration, political imprisonment, surveillance and the criminalization of dissent and resistance, or for abolition or re-integration. Participants will identify themselves and their group(s), let others know of events planned in the coming month or two, and suggest additional participants. Dial-in Number: (515) 604-9702; Access Code: 290785. RSVP: changelinks2@gmail.com

July 17 – Mon

Discussion: How Do We Achieve More Unity, Inclusiveness and Effectiveness in Opposing Trump? 6p, UnUrban Coffee House, 3301 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica 90405. Free parking at U.S. Bank lot across street. Open discussion at the Activist Support Circle free public forum. More info.: Visit http://facebook.com/ActivistSupportCircle or call 310-399-1000.

FILM: Rabin, The Last Day, 7p, $12, Skirball. In this provocative political thriller co-presented by the Ford Theatres and the Skirball, filmmaker Amos Gitai documents the November 1995 assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Through staged re-enactments and archival news footage, Gitai illuminates the subculture of hate—fueled by hysterical rhetoric, paranoia, and political intrigue—that led to Rabin’s untimely death. This “never less than eerily absorbing” film, as lauded by the Independent, is a “must-see.” (2015, 156 min. No MPAA rating. Viewer discretion advised. In Hebrew with English subtitles.) Q&A with director Gitai follows the screening. Companion program and special ticket offer! Don’t miss Amos Gitai’s critically acclaimed multimedia theatrical concert Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination at the Ford Theatres on Sunday, July 23. Purchase tickets to the theatrical performance before June 30 using the discount code “SKIRBALL” to receive $10 off the ticket price. Plus, Rabin, The Last Day at the Skirball is FREE for ticketholders to the theatrical performance at the Ford Theatres. Request FREE tickets to the Skirball screening in the “add-ons” section of the shopping cart when purchasing tickets to the theatrical performance on the Ford Theatres website.

July 21 – Fri

Film: Citizen Jane: Battle For The City sets out to examine the city of today though the lens of one of its greatest champions: author Jane Jacobs. 7p, Free Movie Nights at the Skid Row Museum, Discussion facilitated by civil rights attorney Nana Gyamfi. 7p, 250 S. Broadway, LA 90012.

ACTION! Cinema as Sanctuary, 8p, EPFC, 1200 N. Alvarado St. LA 90026. Political documentary films take on a renewed role amid a reinvigorated rage against immigrants, refugees, and people of color in many places around the world. Through politically engaged cinematic work, many filmmakers are confronting old and new forms of racism, the deepening ungrievability of Black and Brown lives, and precarious realities faced by minority communities including indigenous peoples, the elderly, refugees, women and children. ACTION! series: Cinema as Sanctuary features political documentary films that re-assert the images and stories that remind us that a compassionate world rooted upon solidarity, friendship, and collective action is possible. (213) 484-8846 or info@echoparkfilmcenter.org

A Visual History of African Americans in LA: The Photographic Collection of Miriam Matthews, free. 12n-2p, Palms – Rancho Park Branch Library. Alva Moore Stevenson, historian and retired UCLA Library program coordinator. Miriam Matthews was born in Pensacola, Florida in 1905. Her family were among the waves of African-Americans who migrated to LA from the South in the early-20th century. Educated at UC Berkeley and the University of Chicago, she became the first certificated African-American librarian in LA in 1927. More than a pioneering librarian, Miriam was the consummate historian of African-Americans in LA and CA. Her collection focuses on the history and lasting impact of African-Americans in the city and the state from 1781 through 1989. Through these images is revealed a little-known narrative of African-American struggle and success over many decades.http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/events/visual-history-african-americans-los-angeles-photographic-collection-miriam-matthews

Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination, Amos Gitai’s critically acclaimed multimedia theatrical concert at the Ford Amphitheater. Purchase tickets ($70, 50, 30) to the theatrical performance before June 30 using the discount code “SKIRBALL” to receive $10 off the ticket price. Plus, Rabin, The Last Day at the Skirball is FREE for ticketholders to the theatrical performance at the Ford Theatres. Request FREE tickets to the Skirball screening (see July 20) in the “add-ons” section of the shopping cart when purchasing tickets to the theatrical performance on the Ford Theatres website. https://www.fordtheatres.org/calendar/yitzhak-rabin-chronicle-assassination

ALOUD: Resist, Disrupt, Transgress: Four Poets – Chiwan Choi, Natalie J. Graham, Ashaki M. Jackson, and TK Lê, 7:15p, Mark Taper Auditorium-Central Library, 5th & Flower, DTLA. Free (reservations req).An electrifying evening as four bold writers from diverse backgrounds come together on the stage to explore their common experiences of loss through time and history. Chiwan Choi is the author of 3 collections of poetry. He wrote, presented, and destroyed the novel Ghostmaker throughout the course of 2015. Chiwan is a partner at Writ Large Press, a downtown LA indie publisher. Ashaki Jackson is the author of two chapter-length collections and serves as a VIDA: Women in Literary Arts executive board member. She is a social psychologist living in LA. TK Lê is an LA-based introvert and disorganized organizer. Her writing is often focused on her family, war trauma, and memory. She has two chapbooks, and her latest project is a story about a Vietnamese grandma who gets stuck in a teleportation device. Natalie Graham earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Florida and completed her Ph.D. in American Studies at Michigan State University. Her poems have appeared in Callaloo, New England Review, Valley Voices: A Literary Review and Southern Humanities Review. http://lfla.org/event/resist-disrupt-transgress-four-poets/

HAMMER FORUM: End Of Life Options, 7:30p, free. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Bl, LA. Last year, California became the fifth and largest state to enact an assisted suicide law, the End of Life Option Act, allowing doctors to prescribe aid-in-dying medication. Compassion & Choices president Barbara Coombs Lee, UCLA health policy professor Cindy Cain, author and physician Dr. Haider Warraich, and Dan Diaz, husband of the late death-with-dignity advocate Brittany Maynard, discuss the legal, social, and medical ramifications of physician-assisted death. Moderated by Ian Masters. https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2017/07/end-of-life-options/

July 26 – Wed

ACTION! Presents K-TOWN ‘92, 8p, Doors 7:30p. Free! 1200 N. Alvarado St., LA 90026. When the LA riots-uprising-civil unrest exploded in 1992, images of destruction beamed across the globe with little context as to why these events had occurred. TV news focused on African Americans, Latinos, and Koreans as both victims and perpetrators of violence, and footage of the “first multicultural riots” locked each group within a stereotype. Twenty-five years after, Grace Lee’s “K-Town ’92 Reporters” revisits these images that profoundly shaped our understanding of race in America. Filmmaker Grace Lee in attendance. free. This screening is part of ACTION! Cinema as Sanctuary, a free summer series presenting political documentary films and workshops. ACTION! is made possible with the support of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.1200 N. Alvarado St.,Los Angeles, California 90026 for info (213) 484-8846 or info@echoparkfilmcenter.org

The Challenges of American Immigration: Ali Noorani in conversation with journalist Pilar Marrero, 7:15p, Mark Taper Auditorium-Central Library, 5th & Flower, DTLA. Free, RSVP. Ali Noorani, exec. director of the National Immigration Forum in DC, an advocacy organization promoting the value of immigrants and immigration, sheds new light on our immigration debate in his timely book, There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration. Although U.S. politics are more polarizing than ever, Noorani argues that our issues of immigration are more about culture and values than politics and policy. http://lfla.org/event/challenges-american-immigration/

July 28 – Fri

JC Brooks (Chicago, IL) Soul / Funk Concert, 7:30, free, Levitt Pavilion LA, MacArthur Park, 6th & Parkview. JC Brooks makes soul-infused, genre-bending music that is energetic and kinetically charged. The grab-the- listener-at- all-costs mashup manifesto has been captured to a T on the band’s new joint, The Neon Jungle. Their soul mashup version of Wilco’s “I’m Trying to Break Your Heart” was a nationwide jam released by Bloodshot Records as JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound, but with the new album The Neon Jungle, they have dropped “the Uptown Sound” but continue as one powerful live band.

July 29 – Sat

CONVERSATIONS: Hans Ulrich Obrist And Connie Butler, 3p, free. Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd at Westwood, LA. Curator, critic, and art historian Hans Ulrich Obrist joins Hammer chief curator Connie Butler in a discussion on the work of Marisa Merz within the broader field of contemporary art. Obrist is the codirector of exhibitions and director of international projects at the Serpentine Gallery in London. A prolific documentarian, he has recorded nearly 2,000 hours of interviews with cultural figures including Ai Weiwei, Zaha Hadid, and John Baldessari as part of the Interview Project. His recently published books include A Brief History of Curating and Ways of Curating. https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2017/07/hans-ulrich-obrist-and-connie-butler/

IfNotNow new member all day training session, 9a-7:30p. IfNotNow is a movement led by young Jews committed to transforming our Community’s support of the Occupation into a call for freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians. At our training you will learn about our Movement’s strategy, vision, tactics, and story. https://www.facebook.com/IfNotNowOrg

What Began in the Fires, 8p, free. Grand Performances, California Plaza, 350 S. Grand Ave, DTLA. Remember and reexamine a moment of struggle, consciousness and resistance through personal testimonies, on the 25th anniversary of an event that changed people and politics. Members of the Korean-American community look at Sa-I-Gu (4/29) and the ’92 L.A. uprising, telling their stories through prose and poetry. Produced by Writ Large Press for Grand Performances. KPFK is a media sponsor.

July 31 – Mon

Coding Unplugged: Code A Tower, 2:30-4p, Practice coding skills without a computer. Can you write a code to show a friend how to build your tower design? Ages 5-10. Santa Monica Public Library: Main Library, Children’s activity room. Free. http://calendar.smgov.net/library/eventcalendar.asp

Moving the Center: African Literature in African Languages – Ng?g? wa Thiong’o and Richard Ali A Mutu iIn conversation with poet and translator David Shook, 7:15p. Mark Taper Auditorium-Central Library. free, RSVP. Two generations of African writers—Ng?g? wa Thiong’o, an elder statesman from Kenya, and Richard Ali A Mutu, a young novelist from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—discuss the politics of writing in African languages, the vibrancy of the continent’s cultural output, and exciting new trends in East, West, and Central African writing. Thiong’o and Mutu will be joined for a rare look at groundbreaking indigenous voices by David Shook, the founding editor of Phoneme Media and publisher of Mutu’s debut novel, Mr. Fix-It, the first novel written in Lingala to be translated into English. http://lfla.org/event/moving-center-african-literature-african-languages/